File No. 893.51/1799
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador
The Department of State has received no official intimation of an application having been made by China for such loans as are mentioned in the memorandum handed to the Secretary of State by His Britannic Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires on August 21, 1917.
The Department of State shares the opinion expressed by His Britannic Majesty’s Government that the time is inopportune for the assumption by China of such heavy financial liabilities as are contemplated in the proposed loans and that the relief likely to be afforded by the proposed suspension of indemnity payments, and the proposed increase in the rate of the import duties as well as by the improved revenue from the salt gabelle seem to make such large loans by China inadvisable under present world conditions.
The American Minister in Peking has been instructed in this sense and authorized so to state to the Chinese Government should they consult him in regard to the matter.
Washington , August 24, 1917.